The Smash Route

In it's simplest form the Smash Route is a 2 man route combination that that puts a defensive player in a high-low dilemma. Basically you're between a rock and a hard place. It looks like this:

You can see the bind that this play is going to put on the cover 3 CB. If he plays whats in front of him he will take away the short hitch but give up the big play behind him on the corner route the TE is running. The Outside linebacker, who technically is responsible for the hitch route in cover 3 has a long ways to go to get out there, and when you run this play it is a good idea to have your receiver widen his split to make the defense cover more ground.

It's been way too long

Well, first, let me say that it has been way too long since I have posted on here. My football season ran into wrestling season and I have not had much time to think let alone sit down and blog. That is about to change. With the spring fast approaching I should have more time to spend here.

Upcoming posts on the Smash Route, Five-Wide No Huddle Offense, my research into the the under front defense, and a few book reviews.

Sorry for the Lapse

A new teaching job and coaching has me much more busy than I anticipated, or at least I do not have time to blog like I thought I would. The season has gotten off to a fairly decent start. School is good. I am waiting on getting some film and should have some updates soon.

One Play Every Middle School Needs: The Toss Sweep

In my time coaching middle school football our offense predicated on three offensive plays - the fullback dive, the tailback off tackle play, and the toss sweep. The toss sweep play, quick toss for us, was a a simple sweep play. Seal the edge and bring as many lead blockers to the point of attack as possible.

We would run this play out of set or formation as long as there was a tight end on the field. Lets look at our "Blast Right" formation:

I have it drawn up against a 5-3 defense, which is something that we saw a lot of when we were in a double tight set. We see a lot of 4-4 in our league but when we would go double tight we could force teams to put one of their LBs on the line of scrimmage or even take one of their better athletes off the field in exchange for a defensive lineman. This is a plus to us because this play is a quick hitter and defensive lineman aren't usually a factor in the play.

The key to the play is sealing the edge. We do this by having our play side tight end hook block the defensive end. This is the hardest thing we ask our tight ends to do. If we have teams that play a loose 9 tech we will check to a tailback dive off tackle. In addition to the hook block by the tight end we have our Z receiver crack the OLB. We like to have physical receivers who look forward to ear-holing those OLBs. After awhile those OLBs are looking for the crack and are trying to not get hit, and if that is the case he has pretty much taken himself out of the play.

Next we pull our play side guard and tackle and lead with our fullback. That play side defensive tackle that goes unblocked has never been an issue for us. He will occasionally get in the way of the pulling guard in which case he just works to the second level. We send out backside OL and TE to the second and third level and tell them to go find someone to hit. The quarterback reverses out for the toss and then boots away.

 
This play doesn't always go to the house but it was a staple for us. It was a good first down play or second and long play. We add in a reverse and reverse pass off of it making it a very dangerous and versatile play. I believe that when teams scouted us this was the first play that they wanted to stop based on the defenses we started to see after having a lot of success with this play.

Going to San Francisco

Headed to San Francisco the week. I hope Ed Harris isn't planning a trip also...

A Tragic Timeline

Book Review: Patriot Reign

In Michael Holley's book, Patriot Reign, he gives a glimpse inside Bill Belichick's football machine. From managing assistant coaches, dealing with owners, and evaluating players this book provides insight into how the most successful NFL franchise in recent memory goes about their business. Most enjoyable, for me, was the inside look at how Belichick manages his players, coaches, and his responsibilities as a head coach.

"Lets put it this way: when you're the head coach you're the head coach twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. No matters what happens, it's on your watch and, to a degree, it's your problem... It doesn't matter what. Some guy can run a stop sign and get pulled over by the police, and they are calling you. If the fertilizer doesn't come and the grass is going to be brown, you might get a call, "What are we going to do?" It's everything." 


One thing that every coach can relate with is an anecdote from early in the book regarding the Drew Bledsoe/Tom Brady issue that arouse in New England during the 2001-2002 season. Drew Bledsoe was the face of the franchise and a fan favorite. To Belichick, Bledsoe's game was full of holes. Brady, on the other hand, was the ideal quarterback for his franchise. In addition to his high football IQ and skill set he was intelligent, charismatic, and put the team first.

Another thing the stood out to me was the evaluation process that every player of the team was subject to. Strengths, weaknesses, comments, anecdotes, statistics, performance, weight room numbers, attitude, and ability to be coached are just some of the areas that players were evaluated in. Each player is given scores for each category and then compared to others at his position.

Perhaps, the greatest lesson that can be taken from the book is Belichick's attention to detail in self evaluation. "They don't put their feet on tables and reflect on their greatness. They are analysts, stalking themselves for loopholes and weaknesses. When they find them, especially, in retrospect, they want to perform autopsies on the errors so they won't happen again." This is a lesson we can all learn from. I feel that a lot of times we spend a lot of time focusing on the next opponent and we fail to look back and learn from past successes and failures. It is easy look look with a critical eye when we lose a game, but looking for things to improve upon following a victory is just as important. We have to strive to constantly improve to be the best that we can be.

This book gives some great insight into managing people and a program. It would be a great read for anyone aspiring to break into the coaching profession and also for people who are looking to move up  the chain of command.